Abraham Matthijs or Abraham MatthysAbraham Matthijs
at the

Netherlands Institute for Art History The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...

(1581 in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

– 2 September 1649 in Antwerp) was a Flemish painter and art collector who was active in Antwerp and Italy. He is known for his religious compositions, marine scenes and portraits.

Life

Abraham Matthijs was born in Antwerp as the son of the fishmonger Hendrik Matthijs and Margaretha van Roubergen. His parents were relatively well-off as they owned their own house on the Vismarkt. At the age of 10 Abraham he was registered at the Antwerp

Guild of St. Luke The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Four Evangelists, Evangelist Saint Luke, Luke, the patron sa ...

as a pupil of

Tobias Verhaecht Tobias Verhaecht (1561–1631) was a painter from Antwerp in the Duchy of Brabant who primarily painted landscapes. His style was indebted to the mannerist world landscape developed by artists like Joachim Patinir and Pieter Bruegel the Elder. He ...

, a landscape painter who had been the first teacher of Rubens.Frans Jozef Peter Van den Branden, ''Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche schilderschool'', Antwerpen, 1883, p. 633-636 Ph. Rombouts and Th. van Lerius, ''De liggeren en andere historische archieven der Antwerpsche sint Lucasgilde''
Volume 1, Antwerp, 1864, p. 366, on

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Abraham left Antwerp for Italy in 1603. Little is known about his residence or his work in Italy. He was back in Antwerp in 1619. Abraham became a master in the Antwerp

in 1619 and had a pupil called Fransoeis Cosyn in that year. He left Antwerp not long after that and was absent from Antwerp from 1619 until the end of 1623. From 1633 to 1644 he received a pupil almost annually. He remained a bachelor his whole life and became a member of the

Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Penance The Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Penance or simply the Third Order Regular of St. Francis ( la, Tertius Ordo Regularis Sancti Francisci) is a mendicant order rooted in the Third Order of St. Francis which was founded in 1221. The me ...

. He had an active role in the Sodaliteit der Jongmans van den Zoeten Naem Jesus, a fraternity for bachelors established in the Dominican church in Antwerp. In 1632 and 1637 Matthijs was the prefect of the Sodaliteit. Matthijs was commercially successful and bought his own house. He became an avid art collector. His collection came to hold 340 paintings as well as numerous drawings and sculptures. The works included originals and copies of Italian masters, landscapes and a portrait of

Paul Bril Paul Bril (1554 – 7 October 1626) was a Flemish painter and printmaker principally known for his landscapes.Nicola Courtright. "Paul Bril." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 26 September 2016 He spent most of ...

, two portraits of saints by

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh c ...

and two portraits and a self-portrait by Rubens painted during his youth, which is lost. Abraham Matthijs - Whalers in the ice

Matthijs suffered from a weak constitution and on 17 and 19 September 1638 he was so ill that he drew up a will. He did not die then but more than 10 years later on 2 September 1649. He had before his death made arrangements to be buried in the habit of the Franciscans in the church of the Franciscans. He had also commenced a painting to be hung over his grave in the church which was unfinished at the time of his death.

Work

Abraham Matthijs is known for religious paintings, portraits and marine scenes. Only very few of his works are preserved. One of them depicts ''The death of Maria'' (1633,

Cathedral of Our Lady (Antwerp) The Cathedral of Our Lady ( nl, Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Antwerp, Belgium. Today's see of the Diocese of Antwerp started in 1352 and, although the first stage of construction was ended in 1521, has never bee ...

). He also painted an ''Assumption of Mary'' for a local monastery. He further painted a portrait of the marine painter

Bonaventura Peeters the Elder Bonaventura Peeters (I) or Bonaventura Peeters the Elder (23 July 1614 – 25 July 1652) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and etcher. He became one of the leading marine artists in the Low Countries in the first half of the 17th century wi ...

, which hangs in the church of Our Lady in Hoboken, near Antwerp, where Peeters is buried. Abraham Matthijs painted the ''Whalers in the ice'' (

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the United ...

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

, London). It shows a fleet of whaling ships at work with some of the whales floundering about while being hauled to the shore.Reginald Howard Wilenski, ''Flemish Painters: 1430-1830'', Viking Press, 1960, p. 278

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Matthijs, Abraham 1581 births 1649 deaths Flemish Baroque painters Flemish landscape painters Flemish marine artists Flemish history painters Painters from Antwerp